Most Recent Read: Virtually You

It is ironic that I am writing a blog post about a book that is about our virtual identities.  I'm not going to lie, I didn't finish the book.  Not because it wasn't good, but because it seemed Aboujaoude made some really good points in the first chapters and could have gone without dragging them out the rest of the book.  

The book is extremely relevant for our time and gave me several insights into my own interaction with the internet.  I realized that it really is easier to spend money online, and while Matt and I aren't thousands of dollars in debt because of my online spending (in fact we have no debt), it is good to be aware so that I can be more careful in the future.  Reading this book made me really glad that my husband and I don't feel the need to live our lives vicariously through internet websites like second life.  It's refreshing and liberating to know that who we are doesn't have to be defined by our virtual selves.   

The following quotes are some of my favorite by Dr. Aboujaoude,"Online, we are all still prospectors at heart, looking for a bonanza like everybody else.  And so, many among us believe that if we join enough chat rooms, consult enough blogs, listen to enough podcasts, and look at enough three-dimensional pictures, we can finally discover the unique, perfect, most exquisite...can opener!"

Also by Dr. Aboujaoude,"The internet has become the sure means to almost every brilliant goal, the one common road to myriad things we fantasize about and want to see realized...If our online expedition is expensive, time-consuming, or even of questionable morality or legality, at least it can be rationalized as a quest for a state of perfection that we now know exists and can be found; at least it can be done in the name of discovery and dream fulfillment".  I know I have spent some time looking for the perfect item online, whether is is a floral scarf, an alarm clock where the snooze is activated by shooting a laser at it, or some other random object.  It's amazing how stepping back, and looking at our actions with a heightened perspective can help us understand why we do some things, and how to avoid doing them again in the future.  I know that I will be less likely to spend too long searching online for the perfect flats.  I also realized that sometimes I put up wall posts on Facebook because I want people to notice them and comment back.  But I don't have to use Facebook updates.  I can call a friend and talk to them and then instead of a token comment, I can see how they really are doing.

I also liked this quote in the book by René Girard, "There is nothing, or next to nothing, in human behavior that is not learned, and all learning is based on imitation...If human beings suddenly ceased imitating, all forms of culture would vanish".  This quote reminded me of a quote by Isaac Newton, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants".  We are a sum of all the experiences and interactions we have had and I hope that future generations keep those experiences and interactions mostly in the real world, and not the virtual one.